Customer Reviews

Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This outstanding book is easy to read and useful to everyone who wants to build security into their region, city, community, home, workplace, design and construction projects, and daily routine. Topics are clearly divided into sections and chapters. Sections include achieving transparent security (the opposite of designing fortresses and building bunkers), planning and design of buildings (including commercial, institutional, historic, and religious facilities, schools, health facilities, single and multifamily residential, and many others); engineering, technology, construction, cost estimating, codes and liability concerns. A who's who of experts in the design and construction world, government and nonprofit organizations, along with the author/architect, write about security for many situations and building types.

A series of lessons learned from benchmark events, such as September 11, 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing, Khobar Towers, and major natural disasters, are found throughout the book, reflecting extensive research about what went wrong in the past, and how we can learn from previous mistakes. Rarely has such a comprehensive reference been compiled for the public.

For those concerned about home and business security, there are dozens of handy checklists, charts, and illustrations for disaster planning, emergency response, disaster recovery, and even how to handle public relations and the media when your organization is caught in the middle of a crisis. Homeowners, landlords, families, and those involved in residential design and construction will find information about design and emergency management techniques to minimize damage from fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, blackouts, and natural disasters.

Readers will be pleasantly surprised with many impressionist pen and ink architectural drawings illustrating the topics, injecting a creative, artistic touch into serious discussion. Hundreds of checklists, diagrams, top 10 lists, website resources, and photos simplify important concepts and summarize key ideas at a glance. Examples include how to recognize suicide bombers to safety checklists for building personnel dealing with intruders, hostages, suspicious packages and workplace violence.

Not to be missed are the very moving photographs of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon taken on and immediately after September 11, 2001, by those on the scene. They serve as a chilling, yet poignant reminder to readers everywhere why this remarkably comprehensive book is so essential and immensely valuable to everyone concerned with building safety, freedom, democracy, and maintaining a free and open society. Highly recommended, as a must have, must read!

I'll never look at my clients' nursing home facilities the same as I did before I read this handbook! I'm a healthcare attorney, not an architect. There are some chapters that are more applicable to my role with clients than others; nevertheless, I found this book extremely informative and thought provoking. Clearly this book was a labor of love for Ms. Nadel.

Since 9/11, the security industry has been evolving. The need for standards in the industry is imperative and this book discusses a varity of industries and their standards of care. This book is a great reference for anyone in any industry that is looking for information on security. Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design is a must have.

Barbara A. Nadel. FAIA creates the resource for architects for security design. Nadel empasizes owners assembling a security team at the beginning of a project when design professionals can plan for and budget good security strategies. Most of the text is very informative and uses examples as well as compiles articles developed by security consultants in the field. In this unparalleled book Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA creates the source for security design. A must have resource for all architects, planners, landscape designers, lighting consultants and engineers in a security conscious design era; post 9/11.

This book has a lot of information but it seemed as if it was information overload. A lot of the information in other chapters seemed redundant but nonetheless the text book was very informative.

What I got from the book is some private impressions not really security design. I don't deny that it contains some useful tips but I can not depend on the book as a reference in my work as a security consultant.

I liked the way of presenting facts, but we need modularization.

Another thing, the book tried to deal with everything but actually you missed most important detailed things (a jack of all trades is master of none) and also nothing mentioned about important sites like telecommunications stations and maritime.

All you have to do is look at the table of contents to realize this book reflects a wide range of thoughts from a wide variety of perspectives. There is some redundancy, as there would have to be in such a text, but the information is often phrased differently and with a slightly different approach, so it's all helpful.

No single book can say it all about every possible security issue or type of facility. However, a reasonable and knowledgeable person will be able to adapt all of this material to any concern. I've used every part of this book as a resource for a variety of security training and writing and have also used it to identify other resources, cited in the text. I think it is a necessary component to a collection of material on this topic and one that will be a valuable reference.

Security from soup to nuts, here it is, in one big book. Big picture ideas, nitty gritty details, many different security concepts. Lots of tips and checklists on how anyone can apply them in any scenario or location. Packed with all kinds of useful information for designers, building owners, security personnel, students, professors, and just plain folks. Well-organized and edited, beautifully illustrated, very user-friendly. Simply a remarkable volume about one of the most important subjects on the planet.

Destined to become the bible for security experts - or those who wish they were!